


If they could only see us now

by OTTLCWPTTISPSBQNBTTKs_bitch



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, One Shot, aoc au, can't let one gay more have all the fun, lesbians in the white house, thank god for shelby, these lesbians be politicking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:48:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26951656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OTTLCWPTTISPSBQNBTTKs_bitch/pseuds/OTTLCWPTTISPSBQNBTTKs_bitch
Summary: “What’s this?” Alyssa said with suspicion, eyeing the stack of cards in the box.“Thank you cards for people who’ve written in to wish you a happy birthday."“This is how I get to spend the day?”Shelby put the phone down and said, “No, you get to spend the rest of it with me and the other seven things on my agenda I just remembered you won’t let me talk about. Also, there’s nothing on the First Lady’s calendar. I don’t know where Emma is. Do you want me to call her detail?”or, there are lesbians in the White House!
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Kudos: 48





	If they could only see us now

**Author's Note:**

> Set in the only what you make of it world aka AOC AU.
> 
> IDK what this is, really. I wrote it for myself but thought you might like it too. Please clap.

Alyssa walked into the Oval Office humming to herself. She sunk into her chair and started to reach for the papers on her desk but stopped. Looking around as though making sure she really was the only one in the room Alyssa sat back, pushed away from the imposing desk and spun around. She watched the sandy wallpaper, the portraits of women in government - Pelosi, Albright, Clinton, RBG, the curtains, and the blue sky outside her window all went by in a blur for a few revolutions before putting on the brakes by dragging her feet on the wooden floors. 

Exhaling a breath of satisfaction, she grinned and picked up the first folder of briefing papers that had been laid out in a series on her desk. 

Ten minutes later, there was a knock and the door to the office opened. Shelby Gonzales entered, striding in with her usual weekday briskness. Even her outfit - a pressed blouse and slim dark jeans - definitely said business casual. Particularly when contrasted with Alyssa who was in her comfiest pair of Levi’s and a chambray top, which said ‘I live and work at the same address’.

“Good morning, Madam President.”

“Hey, Shelby,” Alyssa greeted her Chief of Staff. Then she made a face. “And when it’s just us _and_ it’s the weekend, can I please be Alyssa?”

“Nope. Not while we’re in here.” Shelby swirled her finger in the air, indicating the space around them.

Alyssa shrugged, never really expecting to win that one. “Have you read the briefs yet?”

Shelby took a seat and pulled out her tablet from a bag that Alyssa didn’t even notice she was carrying. “Did that on my way over. Want to move the CDC’s deadline so we can have those reports in before we leave for Davos?”

Alyssa contemplated silently then said, “Nah. It’s not going to matter where I make the decision. Let’s not rush them.”

Shelby nodded and started making notes.

“Hey, do you know where Emma is?” Alyssa asked. “She was already gone when I woke up this morning.”

“I’m _your_ Chief of Staff, not the First Lady’s,” said Shelby in a singsong voice. 

Alyssa pursed her lips, her gaze fixed silently on Shelby until the other woman looked up. Shelby cleared her throat before she backpedaled. “Uh, I’ll put a call over to the East Wing after we get done here.”

“She’s not answering my texts,” Alyssa muttered.

Shelby seemed to not have heard that and started off with her agenda items. “First of all, happy birthday weekend.”

“Thanks,” said the leader of the free world with little enthusiasm.

“I would’ve brought you a birthday muffin but...” Shelby turned her head to glance through the open door to the outer office. Just barely visible was the secretary’s desk and the profile of the man who sat there working at his computer. Shelby lowered her voice, “I’ve been getting vibes, man. Michael’s totally gonna start instituting full-body searches if I keep sneaking in snacks for you.”

Alyssa followed Shelby’s gaze out to her secretary. “He is a godsend and keeps me accountable. But I’m not convinced he’s not an agent for my mother.”

“So,” Shelby continued, “some of the latest polling just came in and we should look at office sites for–”

“Whoah!” Alyssa threw her hands up. “Is this campaign talk?”

“I… maybe, slightly? Yes?”

Alyssa stuck her finger up and wagged it around, not unlike the way Shelby did earlier. “Dude. Come on. Not in here.”

Shelby sighed, tilted her head back and searched the ceiling above her. “I could stand outside the door, in the Rose Garden and vaguely yell my thoughts at you through the window?”

“Just, skip through those and tell me about them when we grab lunch.”

“Fine.”

After what felt like several intense hours, Shelby declared, “And we’re done.” 

To Alyssa’s surprise, only forty five minutes had passed since she checked the time. The President flicked her folder shut, stood up and pumped her fist. “Yes!” 

“Wait. I’m done, you’re not,” Shelby said as she reached over the President’s desk and picked up the phone.

At that exact moment, with the timing of a Broadway professional hitting his mark, the Secretary to the President entered with a box of stationery in his hands.

“What’s this?” Alyssa said with suspicion, eyeing the stack of cards in the box.

“Thank you cards for people who’ve written in to wish you a happy birthday. The autopen is taking care of the other oh, fifteen hundred. But these ones, as usual, need your personal touch,” Michael explained patiently.

“This is how I get to spend the day?”

Shelby put the phone down and said, “No, you get to spend the rest of it with me and the other seven things on my agenda I just remembered you won’t let me talk about. Also, there’s nothing on the First Lady’s calendar. I don’t know where Emma is. Do you want me to call her detail?”

“No. It’s fine. I’ll see her tonight.”

––

Shelby crushed her sandwich wrapper and lobbed it over Alyssa’s head. Alyssa turned just in time to watch the wad of paper drop, dead center into the trash can.

“Should’ve taken that D-II scholarship,” Shelby smirked. “Who knows, could’ve transferred to Tennessee.”

“Yeah, I can see that. But Air Force ROTC worked out just fine, wouldn’t you say?”

“More ways than one,” Shelby replied, her tone rueful. She picked up her phone and waved it at Alyssa. “Anyway. I just had to dodge the chair of our Hill committee, wanting to personally ream me out about why you haven't endorsed the reelection campaign for Idaho 27, Texas 3, and Washington and Lee for school janitor.”

Alyssa hummed, stalling for time. “You’d think they’d want to distance themselves from me. Wasn’t exactly pretty, the way we got here.”

“And, there was this little report which landed on my desk on Friday.”

Alyssa swallowed the last bit of her bread, her throat suddenly dry. She knew exactly what report Shelby was referring to and waited for the rest of the inevitable telling off.

“A brief on Democratic incumbents who might face primary challengers in the next cycle?” Although Shelby phrased that as a question Alyssa knew she wasn’t expected to respond. “That you somehow - and I’m impressed you did it without me finding out - tasked a junior staffer to do. And said junior staffer decided to flex on some legislative assistants in the minority leader’s office. I mean, Alyssa, it’s not like you’ve never been here. You know how quick shit rolls down Capitol Hill. What the hell?”

Alyssa looked at the napkin in her hand when she spoke. “We need to get more women into the House.” 

“I... ,” Shelby started then stopped herself. “You can't be kingmaker–”

“The D triple-C won’t, so we have to do it another way,” Alyssa said, looking up at her aide de camp, her friend and political confidant. “I’ve had nothing to show for in the last eight months since midterms but blockades in the houses and blowhards on the news cycle every night. Do you know, we’ve never had more than a quarter of the Senate made up of women? Women continue to be underrepresented in every single branch of our government, Shelby. After all this time!” 

“So, what…? You’re risking your legislative agenda by burning bridges with congress because midterms didn’t go our way?” Shelby asked as she leaned back against her seat, a bewildered look on her face as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“The report came with an appendix. Did you read that?” Alyssa was on a roll, and now that her scheme’s busted she might as well just let it all out. “At least twenty states are currently debating legislation on contraception, including our beloved home state of Indiana. If we had true representation of women in government don’t you think maybe, just maybe we can actually start working on policy that actually helps every person and not worry about what a woman can or can’t do with her own body? But I guess we’ve elected a biracial lesbian for president so clearly we’re past the need for feminism.”

“You don’t need to lecture me, Madam President.”

“Then don’t sit there and tell me I have to shut up and be grateful for this office so that we can win a second term just to do jack shit for the women of this country.”

––

Alyssa took the stairs to the second floor slowly, letting her mind empty of all thoughts of work. It was a habit she picked up at the governor’s mansion, using her commute to shut down and give herself space in her mind to be an attentive spouse and parent when she was home. 

She had spent the rest of the afternoon back at the Oval Office, signing thank you cards while processing her conversation with Shelby at lunch. It was... something. After all of that, Alyssa did find some clarity and she laid out a plan. She knew what she was going to do and she was at peace with it.

Now, she just had to figure out where her wife would be in the residence after finally receiving a cryptic text that just said: _meet you upstairs soon xx_.

She pushed the door to the dining room open and spotted Emma, standing on a chair, attempting to fasten the end of a streamer to a nineteenth century lamp.

“Hi,” Alyssa said.

“Hello,” Emma smiled from her perch. “Um, surprise?”

“Yes.”

Emma taped the streamer to an arm of the brass lamp and slowly got down. “No, you’re not,” Emma said. She walked over to kiss Alyssa on her cheek.

“No. Sort of knew you were up to something.”

Emma waved a hand over to the dining table. “Carolina style barbecue. Smoked for four hours by yours truly.”

“Oh my god.” Alyssa stared at the spread, her mouth watering. She wrapped her arms around Emma and buried her face into her. “You smell… smoky. Good enough to eat,” Alyssa declared and kissed Emma on her neck.

That elicited a very un-First Lady like giggle out of Emma. It made Alyssa’s chest warm with love.

Age was a funny thing. To Alyssa her work mind felt as sharp as ever. But there were times when she had noticed some thoughts began to jumble. Birthdays, graduations, family vacations, some of those memories had begun to fray on either end, becoming fuzzy and untidy.

But never the feeling of being in love with the woman in front of her. That feeling lived within her, it was bright and keen, a compass that consistently guided her toward the best things in her life.

Alyssa brushed her fingers over Emma’s bangs. “You got a haircut too?”

“What? Too short?”

“No. It's perfect. Do you know why I love you?” Alyssa asked, perfectly non sequitur.

Instead of responding, Emma leaned her forehead against Alyssa’s. It was her way of giving Alyssa time to find the words she needed. 

“Loving you doesn’t feel like the world shrinks into just you and me. When we’re together you never make me feel like it’s us against the world. God, Emma, do you remember high school? And prom? You literally went out there and made the world make space for us. For other kids like us. And it opened my eyes, I saw how we were part of something bigger. I am inspired by you every day.” 

Alyssa felt her breath hitch when she thought about the feelings behind her words. “And not just the big things. I love how you still wear your chuck taylors. I love that you know I don't like saying goodbyes so you always say it first. I love that you never stop trying to sing Taylor Swift songs to me every chance you get in public. And... I'm rambling.”

Emma smiled her crooked smile, the one that sometimes still made Alyssa sigh like a lovesick teenager. Then she nudged at Alyssa’s forehead with her own and softly said, “I won’t tell a soul. And I didn’t realize we were listing things we loved about each other, so I’m woefully unprepared. But about that last thing...”

Emma went to her phone and tapped it. The slow rhythm of a bass line on a guitar and drums came through the speakers in the room.

Laughter bubbled out of Alyssa. She hooked her arms over Emma’s shoulders. “Well, lover, can I have this dance?”

“Always.”

––

It was late Sunday morning when Alyssa crossed the Oval Office, bypassing her desk and headed to the door that led to the Chief of Staff’s inner office.

As she expected, Shelby was already there. Her curly hair was gathered in a low bun and a pair of red framed glasses perched on her nose. She looked up when Alyssa walked in. “Do you believe in weekends?” Shelby asked.

“Do you?”

Shelby scrunched her nose and pulled off her reading glasses. “My wife and child are with cousins from out of town. Walking tour of Georgetown or some touristy shit like that.”

“Mine are in the residence, terrifying the kitchen staff. Again. And that’s my reminder that I need to head back soon. They’re making birthday brunch.”

“How was dinner?”

“So you knew about that,” Alyssa said with only a slight accusatory tone.

Shelby checked her phone and gave Alyssa a non committal shrug.

“I came by because I wanted to ask,” Alyssa said, “If you could get the calls set up to those D trip-C backed candidates for next week, we’ll knock that off our list before Davos.”

“Hm?”

Alyssa took a deep breath. “I was reminded yesterday that it’s not enough that we manage to make room at the table. Not even at the head of the table. It matters to put ourselves in the room, take up that space, and do everything to keep being there so we pull everyone past the finish line.”

Shelby quietly nodded. Then she got up and grabbed her jacket, shrugging it on. “Walk you back?”

It was known as the 45-second commute, from the West Wing to the Executive Residence, through the West Colonnade. So whatever Shelby wanted to say, Alyssa thought, it wasn’t going to be a long scolding.

“So I talked to some people,” Shelby began.

“Who?”

“Don’t worry about it. I know a guy, he's kind of a mess. But in a couple weeks a new PAC will launch. It’s going to be about funding, training, talent scouting in federal elections. The PAC will focus on finding candidates who are progressive, female-identified, and most importantly are representative of the people who live in their districts. It’s what you’ve always believed in. It’s how you ran your first state senate campaign.” 

Alyssa’s brain was spinning up like an old computer hard drive trying to catch up with everything Shelby just said. “Have you been talking to Sid?”

Shelby ignored the question. “It means some things you want to see changed will happen. But we keep you out of it, got it?”

They stopped at the entrance to the residence. Alyssa looked at Shelby, clearly at a loss for words. “I could hug you right now.”

“Ew, no. Save it for your wife.” Shelby took an exaggerated step back from Alyssa. She shoved her hands in her pockets and said, “I know… I know what it took when you fought for me to be your Chief of Staff.”

“Shelby, you are the right woman for the job. You proved it today, yesterday. Every day you sit in that office making sure I can do my job. There wasn’t ever a doubt when I poached you from the majority leader,” Alyssa said, a smug grin forming on her lips. 

“You lost some of your strongest allies who wanted their man for the job.”

Alyssa looked at Shelby. “Okay, I’m gonna hug you now.”

Shelby Gonzales stood there accepting the hug. Satisfied that she held on for just a fraction longer than it made Shelby comfortable Alyssa let go.

“Those people know nothing about me. You know as well as I do how it works. And you and I both are here specifically because we want to break the system. Remember that,” Alyssa said, pulling the heavy doors to the building open. She paused and turned around. “Shelby, when will there be enough women in government?”

Shelby shook her head, seemingly understanding the reference. “When there are nine, Madam President,” she replied genially.

“When there are nine!” Alyssa bellowed and disappeared into the residence.


End file.
